


Short of Daybreak

by shleymae



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Declarations Of Love, Established Relationship, Fluff, Multi, Post-Canon, Remember how Sokka canonically loves poetry?, Slightest bit of angst for extra fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26403253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shleymae/pseuds/shleymae
Summary: Suki and Zuko may be the two most exhausting people Sokka knows, but he wouldn't trade them for a thousand moons. On a sleepless night of loving taunts and cheeky rhyme, someone finally says the three words out loud.
Relationships: Sokka/Suki/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 156





	Short of Daybreak

**Author's Note:**

> Couldn't find the extremely specific fluffy time-wasting nonsense I was looking for, so I wrote it. I would love, love, love any feedback! I'm also on tumblr @sleazy4kyoshi
> 
> SLIGHT spoiler warning: This references and was inspired by a scene that happens early in The Rise of Kyoshi. The scene doesn't reveal anything major that we don't already know, though.

Sokka drifted in and out of sleep, sensations coming in flashes. The cold ground underneath, the rustling of trees, the ache at the back of his head. Vacationing with Suki, who couldn’t go for a swim without her competitive streak turning it into a splash war, and Zuko, who had never met a cliff he didn’t want to dive off of, was exhausting. Sokka had been looking forward to his beauty rest. With Suki and Zuko tucked under each arm, the day’s madness was almost worth it. 

Now, he tossed onto his side, flinging his arm around, desperate to hold on to the remnants of his sleep. When his hand felt emptiness around him, he cursed and pried his eyes open. They were gone. He couldn’t remember if he’d finished scolding them about their antics before he passed out, but they were definitely in for a second round. So rude to run off, and wake him up in the process. 

He paused and squinted upwards. He didn’t need to see her to know exactly where the moon was. Not since that ill-fated trip to the North Pole. Her position told him that this time his companions weren’t their insufferable rising-with-the-sun selves. Something was _wrong_.

He crawled to the flap of the tent despite his back’s protests and peered out at the dying fire. Suki and Zuko sat huddled in the darkness. Between the waterfall roaring in the distance and the chirping of insects all around, he could barely make out Suki’s voice, soft and cracking.

“Look, my hand won’t stop shaking,” she said.

“Remember your breathing.”

“I’m trying.”

From his vantage point, Sokka could only see the back of Suki’s head. The rest of her was completely enveloped in Zuko, squeezed between his legs. He was talking too low to hear over her hyperventilation. Sokka restrained himself. Ever since Suki’s six-month stint as Zuko’s bodyguard, it had become apparent that this was his area of expertise.

Suki’s breathing slowed. She dropped her head to Zuko’s shoulder. “That was a bad one.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t remember anything. I just woke up feeling like I was suffocating.”

“It was probably too hot and cramped in the tent with all three of us.”

“That’s not it,” she said, lacking conviction. 

Sokka frowned to himself. He’d known about Suki’s nightmares since they left Boiling Rock. She’d described them as flashbacks, either to her cell or the tiny, sweltering room where Azula had questioned her for hours on end. But years passed before he witnessed one. It was an especially humid night. The two of them were plastered together on Suki’s tiny bed when she shot up with a gasp, her body trembling. He learned the hard way that his instinctive response, to smother her with affection, was the opposite of what she needed. She pushed him away forcefully. The night dragged on with tearful apologies from both sides. Since then he physically kept his distance until her initial panic subsided.

He watched as she sighed. “At least I hope that’s not it.”

“We’ll get a bigger one and see if that helps.”

“Maybe.” 

She leaned forward at the same time as Zuko leaned back, splaying his hands out behind him for balance. 

“Do you think Sokka’s awake?”

That was his cue. 

He scrambled out of the tent, nearly tripping over his feet, as he took his place at her side. She giggled as he nuzzled his face in her hair.

“Sorry, we woke you up.” She reached over and freed his hair of its half-crushed wolf tail.

“Who needs sleep?”

“You’re sweet, but you’re going to be so cranky in the morning.”

Zuko snorted. “He’s always cranky.”

“Shut up. I’m a delight.” 

He playfully smacked Zuko’s shoulder, noting his unnaturally cool skin. Using firebending to draw his body heat inward had been Sokka’s brainchild. He figured it would help Suki when she spiralled. 

When they first tried it, Suki burst into tears of relief. Before she could barely stand to hold his hand, but now, she could hug Zuko as he talked her through the panic attack. That was a defining moment for the three of them, as it erased all of Sokka’s reluctance about accepting Zuko into their partnership.

Suki wriggled free of her boys to stand up and stretch. Humming an unfamiliar tune, she moved through the Kyoshi Warriors training exercises. Sokka recognized them as the ones she had shown him all those years ago. She lit up under the moonlight, and the glowing embers in front of her. So much had changed their first meeting, but he was still in awe. That would never change.

Sokka furrowed his brow when the humming turned to words. “What song is that?”

“Kyoshi sang it for an old sailor’s game where you make up a song from the perspective of the person you love. She thought she made it up, but it was really Avatar Kuruk’s poem that he wrote for his firebending teacher.” Suki paused to roll out of her handstand. “And then she dated the daughter of the woman from the song.”

Sokka shot Zuko an incredulous look. “She’s singing about dead Fire Nation ladies when her two handsome boyfriends are _right here_?”

“You’re the poet, aren’t you?” Suki challenged.

Sokka responded with a wicked smile that he turned on Zuko, who immediately glared in protest.

“Deal with it, buddy, this is _art_.” Sokka mockingly tapped his lips as he studied Zuko. 

" _Every inch of me burns, two swords on my back/ I’m a risk that most can’t afford/ I’m a one-eyed fool, but I make Sokka drool/ He gives me my honor restored._ ”

The corner of Zuko’s mouth twitched. “One-eyed fool?”

Sokka beamed and poked him in the ribs. “You know what I love about you? You can take a joke. Now do me.”

Zuko started, just for a second, his eyes wide and lips pursed together. Then, remembering himself, he scowled. “I’m going to kill you.”

“Do it poetically.”

When he gave in, the words were quiet and stilted. 

“ _I’m the moon’s favored son, her bravest soldier/ Like the waves I crash through your walls/ A hopeless sap, but my mind’s a steel trap/ I smile and your last defense falls.”_

Sokka blinked. “That was… romantic? In a weird, Fire Nation sort of way.”

“I didn’t even know what I was saying,” Zuko murmured, looking away.

Sokka shuffled closer. He let his head fall on Zuko’s shoulder and smirked at the way the flame reignited for a moment, tinged blue at the core.

“A lot of our old love stories were also war stories,” Zuko said quietly. “I always thought they were stupid. The main characters spent their time falling all over each other instead of getting ready for the battle. I didn’t understand how they won when they were so _weak_.” He paused to look to Sokka. “I figured it out eventually. Loving people doesn’t make you weak. Thinking you don’t need anyone else does.”

Sokka swore he felt the ground beneath them shift. Zuko’s breath had hitched when he said _love_ , and the word felt heavy in the air. He glanced over to Suki for confirmation. She stood still now, her knowing smile illuminated by the fire, sparking an idea.

He nudged Zuko’s shoulder with his own. “Okay, now help me with Suki’s. It has to be the best one. What’s the theme?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re useless. Just start listing what you love about her.” Again, he flinched at The Word. “Besides the fact that she’s smart, funny, and beautiful.”

Suki crossed her arms. “Stop it, you two. I’m right here.”

Zuko studied her, his head tilted towards Sokka’s. “She’s strong, but she’s kind and gentle at the same time, even after everything she’s been through. And she’s really good with kids and animals.”

Sokka hummed and held his chin thoughtfully. “Keep going.”

“She doesn’t take everything so seriously. She’s _fun_ . People underestimate her, but she doesn’t get mad about it, she gets even. You can’t even be upset when she beats you in a fight; you’re just _impressed_. She makes it look easy.”

“Good stuff! I think I’ve got it.” Sokka cleared his throat. 

“ _I’m beauty and brawn, at danger I’ll laugh/ Discount me, it’s the last thing you’ll do/ My heart’s full of mush, my fans hide my blush/ I’m a warrior, but I’m your girl, too._ ”

She turned away fully for a good minute before she gathered herself and looked back at the boys, covering her smile with her hand. They both grinned back at her, looking patently ridiculous pressed together, cheek to cheek.

She knelt down and threw her arms around their necks, embracing them both at once. Zuko broke away first and gave Suki a kiss on the cheek before he laid back in the grass.

“I could get used to your poems,” Suki whispered, pressing her forehead against Sokka’s. She tangled her newly free hand in his hair and kissed him deeply, revelling in the surprised sound he made against her lips.

Zuko was smiling faintly at them when they broke apart, looking more serene than anyone had ever seen him. Sokka raised an eyebrow at Suki, silently asking her to test his theory.

“Careful,” She taunted. “If you keep making that face the spirits are going to think you’re in love with us.”

Zuko closed his eyes and murmured, “So what if I am?” He popped his good eye open at the conspicuous silence. “What?”

“You have to say it,” Sokka smirked.

“ _What_?”

“Come on, say the words!” Suki urged.

Zuko grunted and covered his eyes with his forearm. A crashing sensation against his chest startled him and brought him face to face with the other two lying on top of him, flashing matching eager grins.

“Say it, say it, say it!” They started chanting. In unison. Like _children_.

“I’m not going to say it if you two keep being annoying,” he growled.

“We’re not going to stop being annoying until you say it,” Sokka teased. Suki rested her chin in her hands, pulling her best innocent expression.

“Fine.” Zuko closed his eyes and sucked in his breath. After a long moment, he exhaled and opened them. “I love you. Both of you. It hit me when I got here, and I saw you two, that this --” he gestured broadly to their pitiful little campsite “-- is all I ever wanted. It’s all I need.”

Suki beamed and kissed him on the temple. “We love you too! We were talking about it on the way here. Sokka’s exact words were ‘I think I’m in love with that jerk’.”

Sokka rolled his eyes. “Well, Suki said ‘He’s alright, I guess’.”

“Which Sokka said is only allowed because he’s taller than you now.”

“I feel _very_ loved,” Zuko said sarcastically.

“You should. She doesn’t say that about just anyone.” Sokka gave him a kiss that lasted just a second too long, leaving a dazed look on Zuko’s face when he pulled away.

Sokka reached for Suki’s hand. “Honestly? For a minute I thought you two were messing with me and were going to run off together.”

“I thought you two were just bored that weekend and would move on,” Zuko confessed.

Suki shrugged. “I wasn’t worried. Neither of you can function without me.”

They glared but said nothing, knowing they couldn’t exactly dispute her.

Sokka rolled onto his side, snuggling up against Zuko. He and Suki continued chattering on but Sokka had stopped listening, once again preoccupied with the earth churning underneath them. 

_Zuko said he loved them._

Sokka’s mind buzzed with the implications. How was he going to build his life around not one, but two people whose lives kept them busy all over the world? Could their seasonal “vacations” ever be enough? How was he going to explain this to his father? 

_Hi Dad, you remember the Fire Lord? From prison? He’s my boyfriend now. We’ve been dating for a while and - No, no, don’t worry, I’m still with Suki. They’re together too, but it’s not the same. No, Dad, this does not mean you get double grandkids, why would you even ask that?_

The sun rose over them. He groaned and buried his face in Zuko’s shoulder. He could feel their gazes burning into him, but he kept his eyes closed and his face hidden. He decided there would be no reckless shenanigans of any kind that day, just a long, leisurely nap on the shore followed by a dinner of fresh-caught fish, a little bit of sparring, and maybe taking turns kissing until it was time to go back to sleep. Surely he could get the other two on board with his perfect day. Surely, just this once, a night of no sleep would keep them from being their exhausting, adrenaline-seeking selves.

Suki broke the spell. “I know what we should do today! Did you see the rapids further down the river?”

Sokka stared at their excited, sunlit faces. He couldn't decide which was worse, the hint of pleading in Suki's eyes or the hint of a challenge in Zuko's. Either way, Sokka never stood a chance.

“You two are lucky that I love you.”


End file.
